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Lesson 1 of 6
  • Year 2

Singing to achieve a task

I can understand that singing can be used to help achieve a task.

Lesson 1 of 6
New
New
  • Year 2

Singing to achieve a task

I can understand that singing can be used to help achieve a task.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. We warm up our body and mind before singing so that we are focused and ready.
  2. Sea shanties were sung by sailors all around the world to help them to achieve a task.
  3. Sea shanties often have a steady pulse that is sounded as a strong beat. This helps sailors work together in time.
  4. We can feel the pulse and hear the beat in sea shanties and can use this to help us move together.

Keywords

  • Warm up - a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body and voice for singing

  • Sea shanty - a traditional folk song sung by sailors to help them work together in time

  • Pulse - the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

  • Beat - the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock

  • Call and response - a question and answer musical structure

Common misconception

Pulse and rhythm are the same thing.

Pulse is the regular, steady heartbeat of the music. Rhythm is the pattern of notes that we play and sing. It will follow the syllables of the words we sing. Pulse is the underlying feeling of uniformed beats.


To help you plan your year 2 music lesson on: Singing to achieve a task, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Choose your language carefully depending on the context, e.g. “Can you feel the pulse as we walk around the room?” “Let’s clap the beats in this song?"
Teacher tip

Equipment

Drum (one) ball (one)

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
True or false? We only warm up before exercise.

Correct Answer: false, False, untrue, Untrue

Q2.
When we use the voice to create musical sounds that can be a mixture of high sounds and low sounds, we are ...

whispering
chanting
Correct answer: singing

Q3.
Pulse is ...

Correct answer: the regular, steady heartbeat of the music
how high or low a note is
the playing or showing of the steady pulse like the ticking of a clock

Q4.
A drum is a type of __________ instrument.

string
Correct answer: percussion
brass

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
A traditional song sung by sailors to help them work together in time is called a .

Correct Answer: sea shanty, Sea shanty

Q2.
The leader sings the call and this is answered with ...

another call
Correct answer: a response
silence

Q3.
Playing a strong can help us stay in time together.

Correct Answer: beat, Beat

Q4.
How can singing together be used to help us achieve a task?

it can distract us from our work and slow us down
Correct answer: it can motivate us to keep going
Correct answer: it can help us move at the same time
it can confuse us

Additional material

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